Civil Registration (Hansard, 30 October 2003)

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Registrar General who has been asked to reply.

Letter from the Registrar General, Len Cook, dated 30 October 2003.

As National Statistician and Registrar General for England and Wales, I have been asked to reply to your recent question concerning what efforts have been made to publicise the consultation document Civil Registration: Delivering Vital Change. (HL5077)

Civil Registration: Delivering Vital Change was published on 10 July 2003 and represents the first step in the use of the order making powers in the Regulatory Reform Act 2001. These powers will be used to make the changes in the law necessary to modernise the civil registration service in England and Wales. A copy of the consultation document was sent to a wide variety of organisations and persons with an interest in civil registration. A full list of all the organisations consulted is contained in Annex B of the consultation document.

Copies were placed in the Library of the House and the document is also available on the internet at www.statistics.gov.uk/registration. Copies were also available for sale at the General Register Office (GRO). Posters and information leaflets, designed for the public, were sent to all register offices in England and Wales. The document is available in English and Welsh.

During the consultation period, which ended on 24 October 2003, GRO gave presentations and seminars about the proposals in the consultation document, to groups with a particular interest such as registration officers, genealogical societies and voluntary bodies with an interest in registration records.